18 Module 2. Feedlot design
Function
The risk of cattle in the feedlot contracting or transmitting disease or sickness must be minimised.
Design features
Isolation
Animal receival and dispatch facilities, feed receival areas and hospital pens should be separated from the main feedlot
complex to prevent any potential infections spreading through the larger herd. Sick cattle should be isolated from the main
feeding complex as much as practically possible.
Public access restrictions
Only feedlot vehicles and staff should be allowed in the feedlot. External trafic and people should be restricted to ofice facilities,
feed receival areas and cattle dispatch and receival facilities.
Feedlot hygiene
Good hygiene is important to preventing disease spreading around a feedlot. Machinery should be kept clean and free
of dust, mud and manure. Feeding equipment must be kept separate from that used to handle waste products. Drainage
around the feedlot must be carefully maintained to prevent water lying in puddles for extended periods and causing bogging.
Quarantinehospital pens
Speciic pens should be provided near the cattle receival and dispatch facilities to temporarily quarantine cattle before
introduction to the feedlot. These pens can also be used as hospital pens to separate sick animals from the main herd in the feedlot.
The pens must be at least partially covered to provide protection for cattle from rain and sun, and feed and water troughs should
be larger than in normal feedlot pens to reduce stress on animals.
Practical examples
Perimeter fence prevents unauthorised access to the feedlot and keeps straying stock in.
Security checkpoint allows control of vehicle and visitor entry to the feedlot.
7. Bio-security and quarantine
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Module 2. Feedlot design 19
8. Cattle handling facilities
Function
Handling facilities provide a safe, hygienic and low- stress way of inducting cattle into the feedlot, performing
treatments on the cattle, and dispatching inished cattle from the feedlot.
Design features
Location
Cattle handling facilities should be separated by a short distance from the main feedlot complex for bio-security
reasons see Section 7. There must be adequate room for trucks to turn and to access the unloadingloading ramp.
Pens
Holding pens allow cattle to be held after receival and before being inducted, and also allow inished cattle to be
held before dispatch. Drafting and working pens allow cattle to be grouped, re-grouped and held before further treatment
or transfer to the feedlot pens. Quarantine or hospital pens allow sick cattle to be isolated from the main herd to prevent
spread of sickness and provide conditions that will help them to recover.
Crush
A sturdy steel cattle crush is essential to for safe handling of cattle. It must be able to restrain animals at the head while
a squeeze mechanism will help immobilise the animal for handling and treatment. Crushes should allow veterinarian
access to the rear of the animal. Weighing scales can be installed onto the crush or in a dedicated weighing box.
Unloadingloading ramp
Loading ramps should have a level section at least 1.5m long at the top for cattle to step onto and off trucks. The
ramp should be approximately 760mm wide and be no steeper than 3h:1v 20; the loor can be made from
concrete or hardwood, but concrete loors must be grooved to prevent cattle slipping. Sides of the ramp should be fully
enclosed. Trucks must be able to pull up to the ramp in a way that leaves minimal gaps between the truck and ramp
on the loor and sides. No part of the animal may be allowed to it through any gaps.
Drafting
The ability to separate and divide cattle is essential to good management of a herd. Drafting from a lane generally
causes less stress on animals than drafting from a conined round yard. A draft should be able to be directed into one of
at least three pens.
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20 Module 2. Feedlot design
Cattle low
Cattle naturally low better around curves than around sharp angles or tight corners; thus races and lanes should be curved wherever possible. As cattle
will baulk if they see handlers ahead of them, sheeting on lane fences will assist cattle low. Lanes or races must not appear to come to a dead end, and should
have as few shadows as possible crossing them.
Rooing and looring
The crush and main working area must be covered to protect equipment and handlers from rain and sun. The whole handling facility, and at least the
main working area, may be covered by rooing and on a concrete loor. Paved surfaces in working pens can help to reduce bogging under heavy rainfall.
Sample plan
Figure 9 – Sample layout of a simple cattle handling facility.
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Module 2. Feedlot design 21
Practical examples
Covered working area protecting weighing box, crush and drafting gates.
Sturdy fences in working pens but poor drainage in uncovered areas causing bogging.
Clear access for trucks to loadingunloading ramp. Working area fully covered.
Grooved pattern on concrete ramp loor prevents cattle from slipping.
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22 Module 2. Feedlot design
Function
Solid wastes from the feedlot manure, spent bedding material, spoiled feed and carcasses must be contained and then allowed
to dry to become beneicial, with minimal harm or nuisance to the environment and surrounding residences.
Design features
Storage capacity
Solids are cleaned out of pens and sedimentation structures see Section 10 and transferred to storage areas. Solid waste
management systems must have enough capacity to store solids produced from the feedlot as they dry and are processed for
reuse. Reuse or sale of stockpiled solid wastes will reduce the required capacity of storage systems.
Storage design
Stockpiles must be contained in some form to minimise exposure to rainfall or surface water. Simple bunk-style storage
areas can offer adequate protection and containment for minimal cost.
Cover
All solid waste storage areas must be covered to stop rainfall wetting the stockpiled solids which must be kept as dry as
possible to stop it smelling excessively. Cover can be provided by a roof or by a tarpaulin sheet spread over the top of the
stockpile see Figure 10. Any covers must be well maintained to ensure that they are water-tight.
Drainage
All storage areas must provide adequate drainage to allow stockpiled solids to drain and dry. Drainage from the storage
area must be directed into the efluent management system see Section 10.
Handling
Solid wastes are most easily handled when they are dry. Skid- steer loaders are suitable for cleaning pens or sedimentation
structures, and can load solids into the back of trucks for transporting and dumping into storage areas. Solids cleaned
from pens can be moved to draining pads to allow them to partially dry before being transferred to stockpile areas.
Reuse
Solid wastes from feedlots can make highly effective fertilisers. Further value can be added by composting solids, which may
be offered for sale often in bags as soil additives or fertiliser products.
9. Solids management systems
